Traditional search engines accept a search query from a user, and generate a list of search results. The user typically views one or two of the results and then discards the results. However, some queries are part of a longer-term, collaborative process. For example, when a company receives a legal discovery request, the company is often required to mine all of the company's data for documents responsive to the discovery request. This typically involves queries of different bodies of documents lasting days or even years. Many people are often part of the query, such as company employees, law firm associates, and law firm partners. The search results must often be viewed by more than one of these people in a well-defined set of steps (i.e., a workflow). For example, company employees may provide documents to a law firm, and associates at the law firm may perform an initial reading of the documents to determine if the documents contain relevant information. The associates may flag documents with descriptive classifications such as “relevant” or “privileged.” Then, the flagged documents may go to a law firm partner that will review each of the results and ultimately respond to the discovery request with the set of documents that satisfies the request.
Collaborative document management systems exist for allowing multiple users to participate in the creation and revision of content, such as documents. Many collaborative document management systems provide an intuitive user interface that acts as a gathering place for collaborative participants. For example, MICROSOFT SHAREPOINT SERVER provides a web portal front end that allows collaborative participants to find shared content and to participate in the creation of new content and the revision of content created by others. In addition to directly modifying the content of a document, collaborative participants can add supplemental information, such as comments to the document. Many collaborative document management systems also provide workflows for defining sets of steps to be completed by one or more collaborative participants. For example, a collaborative document management system may provide a set of templates for performing common tasks, and a collaborative participant may be guided through a wizard-like interface that  asks interview-style questions for completing a particular workflow.
Although collaborative document management systems are well-suited for searches that involve multiple people and multiple sets of steps, such as those described above, collaborative document management systems have not been utilized to improve the experience of these searches.
There is a need for a system that overcomes the above problems, as well as providing additional benefits.
In the drawings, the same reference numbers and acronyms identify elements or acts with the same or similar functionality for ease of understanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the Figure number in which that element is first introduced (e.g., element 110 is first introduced and discussed with respect to FIG. 1).